National Filem Development Corporation (Finas) said the Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film categories in the 28th Festival Filem Malaysia (FFM) next month will be open to all Malaysian films regardless of language.

It scraps the earlier categories, which differentiate between films depending on whether it meets the 70 percent Bahasa Malaysia threshold.

This comes after industry boycott was called when critically-acclaimed films like 'Jagat' and 'Ola Bola' were disqualified from winning 'Best Film' because it did not meet the language requirement.

FFM28 will also see a new category - Best National Language Film, with the top five films that meet the language requirement nominated for the prize.

This means films that meet the 70 percent Bahasa Malaysia threshold can be nominated for Best Film and Best National Language Film, as a means to encourage the use of Bahasa Malaysia.

This was announced by Finas on its Facebook page today.

"We hope the changes will encourage excellence and that the 28th Festival Film Malaysia will be celebrated wholeheartedly by the industry," it said.

Earlier, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said the decision was made after taking into account the views and suggestions from all parties including the film industry players and members of the public.

Prior to this, cabinet minister, civil society and industry players had urged Finas not to separate the films in Bahasa Malaysia from those not in Bahasa Malaysia, submitted for competition at the FMM this time.